As part of the All-Star week activities, Keith and I went to All-Star FanFest on Saturday, July 12th. Keith had actually gone the day before with his brother and dad but he wanted to go again with me. I can't quite remember how I got tickets but I know I didn't pay for them. I must have gotten them through work.
We were walking through the Convention Center common areas that morning and I slowed down because I saw someone at the coffee area. Keith kept walking and then noticed I was several steps back and I told him to come here. He came back over and I pointed at the guy known as Bert Blyleven finishing up his coffee purchase. We all three hit up perfectly as he started to walk the same way as us and he said, "Good morning." We told him we were here to see him (truly, I was there to see him) as I pointed to my Blyleven jersey and he liked that. We all walked the same way for a little bit and I told him we'd see him later.
It was almost time to get in line to see Bert as he was going to be there for 20 minutes or so to meet and talk to. We got in line and he showed up a little bit early and when he got on the stage, he noticed both Keith and I in the line, pointed at us and said, "Hey, you made it." and smiled.
We also went and watched Bert speak in a pretend locker room setting, him answering questions from the host and fielding questions from the audience. He talked about one of his favorite all-time baseball experiences which was the homecoming at the dome in 1987 from Detroit. He said he gets goosebumps just telling the story. I feel lucky enough to have been there that night.
Keith and I walked around the area stopping at many different things along the way and taking pictures. I thought Keith might be bored as he was just there the day before and he said he hadn't seen a lot of the same things the day before so it was somewhat new to him. We stayed just over a couple of hours and we were out of there by noon. I really enjoy these experiences with Keith and I like being the sports auntie.
